Different Foods Help Make Us Healthy in Various Ways

Fruits and vegetables are important because they contain vitamins that help protect us from certain diseases. Eating these foods can help prevent some kinds of blindness and infections and help wounds heal properly. These foods also protect us from many other health problems.

Meat, poultry, eggs, and fish are good sources of the protein that our bodies need to grow strong. Milk, yogurt, and cheese are also good sources of protein. Protein builds muscle tissue and aids us in recovering from illness. Pregnant women and small children especially need protein to develop properly. These types of foods also contain minerals, such as iron and calcium, that help our bodies develop and function properly.

In addition to grains, verse 16 mentions foods that grow on vines, such as melons, squash, tomatoes, peas, and beans. These foods are all similar to grains in the way they help the body. They give us some protein, vitamins, and minerals that we need. Most importantly they give us carbohydrates, which are natural starches and sugars. Our bodies use carbohydrates to produce the energy we use for our daily activities.

A Variety of Foods Is Necessary for Good Health

Some people think it does not matter what they eat as long as the stomach is filled. This is not true. No one kind of food can take the place of another. Each kind has its own value. We need the vitamins in fruits and vegetables to protect us from some diseases. We need the protein in meats and other foods for growth. (If family members choose not to eat meat or animal products, good sources of protein are beans, peas, and lentils.) Also, we need the carbohydrates in grains for energy. Planning our meals around five basic food groups can help ensure we eat a balanced diet.

Ideas for Preparing Healthful Meals

Planning Meals

Before shopping for food, plan each meal. Make sure there will be servings from a variety of food groups for every person. It is usually helpful to have a written plan and to write down the foods for each meal.

Make a Shopping List

Next, prepare a written list of the foods and the amount of each food needed from the market. A shopping list not only helps us remember all of the items we need, but it also helps us avoid spending money on luxury foods we really do not need. For example, if we have a list, we will probably avoid buying soda pop and candy, which are expensive and unhealthful.

With careful planning and shopping, we may be able to shop less frequently, and can use our time and effort for other important activities, as did a widower with 12 children. This father knew that he did not have much time to spend at the market, so he planned his meals carefully and knew exactly what to buy each time he shopped. He stored the foods carefully to be sure they would still be fresh for his family to eat.

Buy Plentiful, Inexpensive Foods

Buy foods when they are plentiful, because the price then is usually the lowest. If possible, buy extra amounts of some foods when they are in season, plentiful, and inexpensive. Dry them or store them in other ways to eat later. It is important that we plan ahead in this way for another season when certain foods may not be plentiful.

Raise Gardens and Animals

Many families grow fruit and vegetable gardens. Even if a family does not have much space, they can usually grow a few plants in a window box or on a patio. If their garden is very small, a family will usually eat vegetables and fruits as they ripen. If a family has a fairly large garden, they usually eat some of the foods fresh and preserve the rest to be eaten later. Drying is a popular method for preserving food.

In many countries people also raise animals and poultry to help provide the food they need. They may raise ducks, chickens, goats, cows, pigs, rabbits, or fish. Animals provide us with foods from the meat and dairy groups.

Planting, caring for, and harvesting a garden, as well as keeping animals, require planning. For example, deciding where to keep animals, what they will eat, and who will feed them is a kind of planning that helps us have healthful meals for our families.

Budget Carefully

Another type of planning that can help us have more healthful meals is planning how we will spend our money on things other than food. As we think carefully about how we will spend the money we have, we may decide that it would be wiser to buy foods to keep us healthy than to spend the money on expensive luxuries. We might also discover that it is better to use our money for a variety of foods from the major food groups than for unhealthful snacks.

Conclusion

We receive many benefits in family relationships and health when we eat regular planned meals together each day. Our meals are most healthful when they contain a variety of foods from the major food groups. Each person should eat enough servings from each group every day. In order to provide meals that can help us be healthy and that can help our children grow properly, we must prepare for and plan the foods we buy or grow.

Challenge

This week plan nutritious meals for your family. Be sure each meal contains a variety of foods from the major groups. Plan ways for your family to continue to receive a proper variety and an adequate amount of foods they need for good health. Do this by planning ahead, by planting a garden where possible, and by drying or otherwise preserving and storing foods that are plentiful. Review the ways you are spending your money and, where possible, improve these ways of spending so that you have more money for proper food.

Cut Sugar and Fats

If restricted diets really do stimulate the body’s defenses to help maintain the fat, what kind of diet is best? Over twenty-five years ago a researcher showed that extreme obesity can be elicited in rats by raising the fat content of diets from 5 to 50 percent. Other researchers discovered the so-called “supermarket diet” (peanut butter, marshmallows, salami, chocolate milk, etc.), which consists of foods that are sweet tasting, rich in sugar, high in fat content, and low in fiber, caused obesity in rats that showed no unusual weight gains while eating rat chow. If these rats were returned to their daily routine of rat chow only, they could be returned to normal weight. This same phenomenon has been observed in humans who were transplanted into a new environment where fatty and sweet foods were readily available.

One of our major problems, then, may be that many of us eat the typical “supermarket diet” on a day-to-day basis. Almost 40 percent of the calories in the typical American diet comes in the form of fat, and each American eats over one hundred pounds of sugar per year. Changing the amounts of fat and sugar would obviously help control our weight.

Another advantage of decreasing fats and sugars is that we automatically consume more complex carbohydrates from vegetables, grains, and fruits. These kinds of foods not only have very low caloric density but also contain many vitamins and minerals so necessary for health. Changing to a diet higher in complex carbohydrates also allows a person to eat until he is satisfied. This prevents the changes associated with restricted diets that cause the body to conserve energy and store fat, but still maintains a relatively low caloric intake. A recent research study comparing the typical American diet with a diet high in complex carbohydrates showed that those eating the complex carbohydrate diet ate only half as many calories as those eating the typical American diet.

Health Hazards

Serious medical complications have been noted in connection with anorexia nervosa and bulimia. Victims almost always suffer from malnutrition—which causes low blood pressure, circulatory disturbances, irregular heartbeat, and impaired ability to fight disease and infection. During long periods of undernourishment, the body cannibalizes its own muscle tissue; since the heart is a muscle, cardiac arrest often occurs. In addition, malnutrition might adversely affect the brain. (This may explain why many anorectics see themselves as obese even when they are emaciated.)

Another common problem caused by malnutrition is electrolyte disturbance. Electrolytes are substances that help the nerves to function; an electrolyte of special concern is potassium. Low levels of potassium in the blood can lead to a wide range of complications, including muscle weakness, heart problems, kidney failure, urinary infections, and, in rare cases, epileptic seizures. In severe cases, potassium loss can threaten life.

People who frequently vomit often have sore throats, tooth decay, gum disease, and swelling of the cheeks